I should be in the library or my studio by now, but have been distracted by starting to collate the pieces I'll be using for a new Inquisitor and members of her retinue. A few quick images to follow, but by word of explanation, I've decided to keep this retinue relatively simple - no elaborate conversions, just a few head-swaps and other additions here and there.

I've decided to go for a Imperial Noble/courtly theme, and to reflect that, I'm using some members of the higher echelons of Imperial life - in game, this will mean that the retinue aren't particularly 'fighty', but are more inclined to the cerebral: investigative work, subterfuge, espionage and uncovering heresy within the upper classes. With this in mind, the retinue has a Arbitration bent - the Enforcer will be a Judge, and I'll convert the Witch Hunter into a Magistrate. I'm also waiting on a few other pieces to arrive to build a Slate Agent, who (along with the cherub and the Navigator-to-be) will be utilised for spying. And of course, all nobles need a good assassin (currently without arms) in their employ.

The Inquisitor herself will be a Noble and a former augmenticist which should give her some interesting in-game rules, if I can translate them effectively from FFG's Rogue Trader into =][=, and to figure out how to model these modifications without simply just leaving her as an unconverted Isabella Von Carestein (even if this would work).

Wow wow wow wow and wow.. Nobles! yippee my fave 40k thing ..these have a great classic vibe mate , I like that you are not over converting them , these models are lovely and need nothing added really. , I agree the judge head swap is cool though.. as is the basing.. I too wonder what that assassin figure is ? and what lies in store for the navigator..

The assassin is from Dark Age miniatures: http://dark-age.com/shop/skarrd-skarrd-saber-1.html I've never been sure if I actually like this miniature (although I love most of their others), but I think she looks sufficiently different to the other personae that she may well work - although I might give her a head swap yet, I'm not sure.

The greatsword head works really well, the back lip of the helmet tips the head forward making him look as if it's looking down to his auspex. Besides, he looks more like Judge Dredd now, too. I have the crested helm of the old 2nd edition Judge that I was also thinking about using but this works far better.

The Navigator will be the most converted: I'm trying to make it look like Peter's, without it simply just being a copy (as hard a that'll be given that his conversion was pretty much spot on). I'm going to rifle through some other books before heading off to work tonight, though, in case I decide to take him to a completely different place, though.

Ask ye not for who they seeke.

Welcome to The Tears of Isstvan.

This blog is primarily a record of my slow progress in miniature painting and modelling, and has a bias towards the settings, imagery and output of the English wargaming company, Games Workshop, and within that will largely focus on the dystopian gothic-grotesque Warhammer 40,000 setting.

Alongside a showcase of my creative processes and the resultant miniatures that make up my Inquisitorial conclaves, 40k and Fantasy armies, I intend to engage critically with the miniatures, the settings, and the current state of miniature painting, and for the blog to become a focal point of measured discussion on some of the broader aspects of the gaming and painting culture.

I perceive an emergent 'golden age' in miniature painting and a marked shift in the consideration of where to now take this hobby given the level of technical mastery that's been achieved by certain painters - a mastery that has long been espoused as the ideal, and an ideal that needs critiquing. Alongside this, I also perceive that there are certain painters that innately understand the 40k setting, and that it is these people that are spear-heading this level of critique as they seek to remove the disconnect between the presentation of the setting and it's representation in miniature form.

I make no apologies, however, for my adoration of GW luminary John Blanche and the 'Blanche aesthetic' as I see it, and it is this adoration that colours my understanding of the 40k setting.

Naturally, these ideas are simply my own opinions and are welcome to be questioned or challenged. I may well not be right, but hopefully it'll be interesting.